The Twisted Case of Dave Kroupa, Liz Golyar, and Cari Farver
In November 2012, what looked like a messy breakup in Omaha, Nebraska slowly grew into one of the strangest digital stalking cases investigators had ever seen.
At first, it appeared to be a story about jealousy. A woman who had recently dated a man suddenly began sending threatening messages. The texts escalated, the accusations spread, and people close to the situation found themselves dragged into a growing storm of harassment.
But years later, investigators would discover something that changed everything.
The woman sending those messages had likely been missing the entire time.
A Casual Dating Arrangement
Dave Kroupa had recently moved to Omaha after the end of his marriage. Like many people starting over in their late thirties, he wasn’t necessarily looking for a serious relationship. Instead, he was upfront about wanting something casual.
Dave began meeting women through online dating and made a point of being clear about his expectations. He wasn’t interested in settling down immediately; he simply wanted companionship while he rebuilt his life.
One of the women he met during this time was Liz Golyar.
Liz lived nearby and the two quickly fell into a casual routine. Their relationship was never described as particularly serious, but they spent time together regularly. According to Dave, it was the kind of arrangement where both people understood it wasn’t exclusive.
Not long after, Dave met Cari Farver, a 37-year-old computer programmer who worked in information technology. Cari was intelligent, independent, and a devoted mother to her teenage son. Her job required long hours and sometimes long commutes, but she was known by friends and family as someone who had her life together.
Dave and Cari went on their first date on October 29, 2012 and had an instant connection. They began seeing each other casually.
For a short time, Dave was dating both women.
The First Encounter
During their first date, Liz was texting Dave about needing to pick up something she had left at his apartment. Her texts became impossible to ignore and Dave stepped outside for a moment to call her. He explained he was on a date and it wasn’t a good time.
Dave and Cari decided to head to Dave’s apartment after their date to continue getting to know each other better. After being there just a short time, someone started ringing the bell to his apartment.
It was Liz.
She explained she really needed to get whatever she had left at his place, it was important. Dave told Cari, and she decided to head home, it was a long drive after all and she had an early morning. She gathered her things and left, briefly passing Liz on her way out.
The moment was awkward and brief, but unmistakable.
Two women who had both been casually dating the same man suddenly found themselves standing face-to-face in a narrow apartment hallway.
Nothing dramatic happened. There was no shouting, no confrontation.
Dave continued seeing Cari more often. Cari began spending nights at his apartment because her job required a long commute, and Dave lived only blocks away from Cari’s job. Staying with Dave made it easier for her to get to work early in the morning.
For Dave, the arrangement felt natural. They were enjoying each other’s company and the situation felt relaxed.
But something about the dynamic may have been changing behind the scenes.
The Last Morning
The week of November 12, 2012, Cari had a huge project at work. It would require long days. She mentioned this to Dave. It would be intense, and their relationship was still. She didn’t want him to think she was suddenly ghosting him. Dave suggested if she wanted to stay at his apartment that week, she was welcome too. She accepted, it would be a lot easier than the 40+ min commute she had.
On November 13, 2012, Dave left his apartment early in the morning to go to work.
Cari was still there when he left.
Shortly after he arrived at work, around 10 am, Dave received a text message from Cari.
The message caught him off guard.
Cari told him “Maybe we should live together”.
Dave was surprised. They had only been seeing each other for a couple of weeks, and moving in together felt far too serious for the situation he thought they were both comfortable with.
He responded honestly and told her he wasn’t ready for that.
Cari’s reply was immediate and angry.
She told him she would never contact him again.
At the time, Dave assumed the short relationship had simply ended in frustration.
The Messages Begin
Soon after that exchange, Dave began receiving messages from Cari.
At first they seemed like the emotional fallout from a breakup.
Texts accusing him of leading her on.
Emails filled with frustration.
But the messages didn’t slow down.
They multiplied.
Dave would wake up to dozens of messages waiting on his phone. Some days it was twenty or thirty. Other days it was even more.
The tone of the messages varied wildly.
Some were furious accusations. Others were threatening. Some sounded almost calm, while others were filled with rage.
And the messages didn’t just go to Dave.
Emails started appearing in the inboxes of people connected to him — coworkers, friends, former partners.
They accused Dave of cheating. Of manipulation. Of ruining someone’s life.
All of them were signed with the same name.
Cari.
The Harassment Escalates
As the months passed, the harassment spread.
Fake social media accounts began appearing online using Cari’s name.
Messages were sent to Dave’s workplace.
Threats were sent to Liz.
At one point, someone vandalized Liz’s garage door with spray paint.
And then, one night, Liz’s house caught fire.
The blaze caused severe damage to the home and tragically killed several of her pets.
Not long after the fire, an email appeared claiming responsibility.
The message said the fire had been set intentionally.
The sender identified herself as Cari.
By that point, the situation had evolved from harassment to something much more disturbing.
Police believed Cari had left town and was continuing to stalk Dave and the people around him.
But there was one detail that never quite made sense.
No one had seen her.
Not a friend.
Not a coworker.
Not a family member.
Despite years of messages, there had not been a single confirmed sighting of Cari Farver.
The Car
Weeks after Cari disappeared, Dave spotted something strange.
He recognized Cari’s SUV parked outside a building in his complex. When police examined the car, they found traces of blood inside. The discovery raised serious questions. But at the time, investigators still believed Cari was responsible for the harassment.
The messages were still arriving. And those messages seemed to prove she was alive.
A New Investigation
Years later, a fresh set of investigators began reviewing the case.
Instead of focusing only on the messages themselves, they began analyzing the digital trail behind them. Emails. Internet logins. IP addresses. Device records.
As they mapped where the messages were coming from, a pattern began to emerge. Many of the communications traced back to locations in Omaha. And eventually, those digital fingerprints pointed somewhere specific.
Devices connected to Liz Golyar.
The Photograph
While examining digital storage devices associated with Liz, investigators made a disturbing discovery. On one storage card, they found a photograph.
The image appeared to show part of a human foot. On the foot was a distinctive tattoo.
When investigators compared the tattoo to photos of Cari Farver taken while she was alive, the match was unmistakable.
For the first time, investigators had strong evidence that Cari had likely died years earlier.
And that someone else had been impersonating her.
Reconstructing the Crime
Detectives returned to the beginning of the timeline.
Evidence suggested that after Dave left for work on November 13, 2012, Liz went to his apartment and encountered Cari there.
Blood evidence found in Cari’s SUV pointed to a violent encounter. Investigators believe Cari was killed that day.
Her body has never been recovered.
What followed was one of the most elaborate impersonation campaigns investigators had ever seen. For years, Liz used Cari’s identity to send thousands of texts and emails.
She created fake accounts. She sent threats to Dave and to herself. She staged events that reinforced the illusion that Cari was alive and stalking everyone involved.
The harassment campaign lasted nearly four years.
The Arrest and Trial
In December 2016, Liz Golyar was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, stalking, and arson.
Prosecutors presented extensive digital evidence during the trial, showing that the messages sent in Cari’s name originated from devices and internet connections linked to Liz.
They also introduced the photograph of the tattooed foot recovered from her storage device.
Liz waived her right to a jury trial, allowing a judge to hear the case.
After reviewing the evidence, the judge found her guilty of first-degree murder.
Liz Golyar was sentenced to life in prison.
Cari Farver
Cari Farver was more than the mystery surrounding her disappearance.
She was a mother, a daughter, and a talented IT professional who loved technology and problem-solving.
Her son grew up without his mother.
Her family spent years searching for answers.
Although Liz’s conviction brought justice, Cari’s body has never been found.
For her family, that absence remains one of the most painful parts of the story.
A Case That Changed Digital Investigations
The Farver case is now often cited as an example of how complex digital impersonation can become.
For years, thousands of messages convinced everyone that a missing woman was alive.
In reality, those messages were hiding the truth.
Every login, every email, and every digital account eventually became evidence.
And in the end, the same technology used to maintain the illusion helped investigators expose it.
Cari Farver disappeared in 2012.
Her voice was used for years after her death.
But eventually, the truth surfaced.
And the story that once made no sense finally did.
Listen to Part 1 on Apple, Spotify, Youtube and all streaming platforms.
Listen to Part 2 on Apple, Spotify, Youtube and all streaming platforms.
If you found this story interesting, you may also like the story of Dorothy Jane Scott, Gone Hunting: The Disappearance of Roger “Fred” Farmer and The Story of Deanna Cook.
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Resources:
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A&E Television Networks. (n.d.). Cari Farver. How Digital Evidence Helped Solve the Murder of Cari Farver | A&E
Business Insider. (2024). The true story behind the “Lover, Stalker, Killer” case and Dave Kroupa.“Lover, Stalker, Killer”: What Happened to Dave Kroupa? – Business Insider
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Rule, L. (2017). A tangled web: A cyberstalker, a deadly obsession, and the twisting path to justice. Citadel Press.
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The Sun. (2024). Shanna ‘Liz’ Golyar accused boyfriend in disturbing letters after baby’s death. Shanna ‘Liz’ Golyar ‘framed my son for her child’s murder,’ mother says as cold behavior of stalker is revealed
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WOWT 6 News. (2025). Man shares tale of stalking survival at Omaha Women’s Center for Advancement event.‘It can happen to anyone’: Man shares story of stalking, survival at Omaha women’s event3 News Now (KMTV). (2017). Golyar sentenced to life in prison for murder and disappearance.Golyar sentenced to life in prison for murder, disappearance
